In planar ac plasma displays, as opposed to twin substrate ac plasma displays, all the electrodes are disposed on one substrate, typically a glass plate. The electrodes are typically embedded within a dielectric layer disposed on the glass plate. As taught, for example, in my U.S. Pat. No. 4,164,678 issued on Aug. 14, 1979, the row and column electrodes can be embedded at lower and upper levels respectively, with a dc isolated conductive pad electrode at the upper level located above and capacitively coupled to the lower row electrode. In such an arrangement, a display site or glow cell is formed on the top surface of the dielectric located between the conductive pad and the column electrode. When biased by placing the proper voltages on the appropriate column and row address electrodes, the display gas located over the display cell ionizes creating a glow.
In ac plasma display designs, it is a continuing problem to further improve the operating margin against unwanted ionization discharge or glow spread between a biased display cell and an adjacent unbiased display cell. This glow spread or crosstalk is undesirable since it reduces the operating voltage margin and the resolution of the ac plasma display. Prior art attempts to prevent glow spread included the use of column and row glow suppression electrodes which are interleaved with the display cell column and row electrodes and are either left floating or connected to a common voltage source. Fabrication and end interconnection of these column/row suppression electrodes adds additional crossover and other complexities to the design of the ac plasma display. Panel fabrication yields could be reduced by possible line-to-line shorts via these column/row suppression electrodes. Additionally, these grounded or floating column/row glow suppression electrodes interspersed with the column/row electrodes produce an unwanted additional capacitive loading on the column/row address line (column electrodes), resulting in larger writing currents to operate the glow cells.